StarTrekPhoenix: Deck Eleven
by parmakai66
Summary: "You're asking me? I handle personnel, not contraband".


Disclaimer: I do not own StarTrek Enterprise, or any of it's characters. No infringement intended.

A/N: This is a sequel to my first StarTrek story: Phoenix. I wrote it for the fiction section of my creative writing class. (I got an A- on it). Since no one in my class was a Star Trek fan, I intentionally kept most of the Star Trek elements out of it … and focused on other stuff. You don't necessarily need to read Phoenix to understand things ... but I do use one of my original characters ... so it might be helpful.

**Deck Eleven**

"Hoshi, what do you want me to do?" Commander Stu Rybaiski, Phoenix's Executive Officer ran his hand over his face. He felt like his head was about to explode. She had been talking in circles for nearly ten minutes. _If I have to listen to one more minute of this ridiculous nonsense! _He eyeballed her with contempt, but her deep brown eyes and her fair features almost mellowed him. _Almost. _

"Your job would be nice!" Hoshi said.

"And just so we're both clear on what that is," he waved his finger in front of her face, "what exactly should that be?" he asked. "Because honestly, short of doing a room to room search throughout the entire ship, there isn't a lot I can do to stop it!" He pointed toward the vent to make his point.

The subject of the two in the morning complaint was nothing more than run of the mill noises coming through the ventilation system. Noises peppered with some intimate spice, that is. It _was_ a little loud, but Rybaiski certainly wasn't going to admit it, especially to Hoshi. Regardless, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato, the communications officer no less, had conveniently forgotten that piece of information. Complaining to him about it, the executive officer slash chief engineer was like calling up the police chief to bitch about a parking ticket. Yet here he was, dealing with something any one of his first year engineering techs could have handled.

"I find it difficult to believe there is nothing you can do. You're the chief engineer!"

"Yes, gawd, thank you!" Stu bounced his fingertips off his temples at her epiphany. "And nowhere in my job description does it list me as the fornication police!"

No matter how ticked off he was at the situation, he couldn't help but smirk at his words. In fact, it was difficult not to laugh right in her face. The whole thing was ludicrous. Stu had better things to do then stand in her quarters listening to some moans and heavy panting. _And why me? Would she have called the captain down here to listen to that? Or the first officer? Of course not! _Stu coughed to cover his laugh. _How can I take her seriously when she's standing in front of me with those puppy dog eyes, wearing a tight tank top and her __teddy bear pajama pants? _

"You think it's funny?" Hoshi scowled at him. She crossed her arms at her chest angrily. "I hardly think you and your _wife _would be so accepting of _sex noises _if it was your room it was filtering into."

The sarcasm dripped from every word. Stu nodded as it all started to make sense to him. _My wife? Ah, she's jealous. _The history between the two senior officers was tainted. Stu and Hoshi had a love connection, as the captain liked to call it. It sunk before Stu ever gave it a chance. When he realized what he had lost, Hoshi kicked him to the curb. Stu moved on and fell in love with the woman who became his wife. He didn't make a big fuss about the marriage when they came back aboard the ship, although co-habiting in the stateroom down the hall from Hoshi didn't help matters. She was bound to figure it out; it wasn't as if he hid his wedding band when he was around her. Stu cleared his throat and redirected the conversation to the noise and away from his personal life.

"So you _do_ understand that it's _filtering_ in?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Because _filtering _is a key component as to why I or anyone else for that matter, can do nothing to stop it," Stu said. He rested his hands on his hips. "As I told you yesterday, your room sits on a vent junction and because of that, sounds from all over the ship _filter_ through it. Normal everyday space ship sounds. If you aren't able to deal with it, maybe you shouldn't have signed on for another tour in space!"

"Who are you to question my decision to remain on board?" The glare emanating from her eyes bore a hole right through him.

"Ah, gah ….Give me a break. Do I need to make a list?" Stu started to count off the reasons on his fingers. "Let's see, one, when we were dating you told me that you were never comfortable in space. Two, you made it perfectly clear during the last mission that you were _only _on board for the mission. Three, you only stayed on board for the last mission because the captain and Admiral Stewart asked you too. Four, I know for a fact, you were offered some big fancy-shmancy job at Star Fleet Command and yet, here you are. Five—"

"Alright, enough!" Hoshi's voice echoed off the bulkhead. "What do you expect me to do? That noise," she waved her hand at the vent in frustration, "has been going on every night since we left Earth. I can't sleep and I'm starting to get cranky!"

"That's an understatement," Rybaiski growled under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

Rybaiski caught the ice-cold glare that could have been lethal. "Short of disembarking at Starbase One and taking a transport back to Earth, I don't know what to tell you." Stu turned for the door. "Wear some ear plugs to bed!"

"Ear plugs? I have to wear ear plugs in my own room so some unknown freak can get their jollies?"

"Hoshi, no one else is complaining about it. You could always move to the end of the hall." He shrugged his shoulders at the offer. It was the best he had.

"It's smaller," she grumbled.

"Yeah, well, but the trade off is a quiet night of sleep," he said.

-00-

Hoshi watched the door slide shut and her miracle answer leave without doing a dang thing. She reluctantly crawled back into bed and pulled the pillow over her head. _Lot of good he did! Why did I even call him down here? _For that she had no answer. Their relationship was rocky at best and tonight's foray would do nothing to improve it. They had dated for months and she fell in love. Then he cheated on her and dumped her. Even after a year, she still had some weird undefined feelings for him. _Even though he's a complete dog,_ she reminded herself. _And he's married to an alien. _

"And questioning what I'm doing here," she said aloud to her empty room. She rolled over and stared at the bulkhead opposite her bed. "What am I doing here?"

Although she would never admit it to Stu, he was right. While many relished the excitement of never knowing what was to come, space travel made Hoshi uneasy, even after serving ten years on Enterprise and being involved with Phoenix for the past year. The offer from Star Fleet command was still on the table and the ball was in her court to take it. Yet, she told the captain she'd be back. She felt like she had unresolved business.

"Even if I'm not sure what that is."

-00-

Commander Rybaiski breathed a sigh of relief as he cleared the doorway. Being summoned to her room in the middle of the night had it consequences. Everyone on the ship knew of their history and it wouldn't take long for the rumor mill to get started. _And my wife to kick my ass, _he contemplated.

Stu was still miffed over why Hoshi had called him to her quarters and he smelled a ruse. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know there was nothing for him to fix. Perhaps the whole thing was some obscure executive officer hazing exercise. Part of his duties as the XO was personnel management. The captain thought it would help him mend the bridges he had burnt during their first tour.

"So was this some type of test to see how I handle females being ridiculous?" Stu mulled it over in his head while walking down the corridor. His intention was the catch the lift back to the bridge, undetected. Most of the ship was asleep, so it should have been easy. Then he ran right into a body.

"Whoa!" A blur of a buzz cut flashed in front of him as he attempted to veer off to avoid the crash. It was unsuccessful. The man's data PADD clattered to the floor and Rybaiski bent down to get it.

"Sorry, Commander."

Stu keyed into the southern drawl of the ship's new security chief. It was the only recognizable thing about Sergeant Will Brown. His years in special ops had trained him to fade into the landscape and, even on the ship, Brown was a master of it. Stu handed the PADD back to the younger man.

"Sergeant Brown, weren't you off shift several hours ago?"

"I'm a night owl, sir," Sergeant Will Brown said. "Besides, it's not like there's a lot to do in space."

"Ah huh," Rybaiski grunted. Suspicious of why the security chief would be in the senior officer's corridor at zero two thirty, Stu tried to make conversation as a diversion. "Anything good happen today?"

"If good means bad, then yes," Brown said. He laughed at the play on words. "Galley reported a theft of food."

"What? You got to be kidding me!" Rybaiski guffawed. "Why, on a ship where you can eat twenty four hours a day for free, would someone steal food?"

"Maybe they were hungry," Brown said.

"Oh, that's a brilliant analogy." Rybaiski smirked at the security chief. "You get far in your old job with that sense of humor?"

"Not exactly, but in my five days of being here and getting inundated with ghost claims, I realized I needed to be able to laugh it off before it drove me crazy."

"Ugh, deck eleven. Please tell me you haven't fed into that nonsense."

"I've been down there every day since we left space dock and haven't seen or heard anything. I was on the basketball court today when Ensign Kelley starting screaming that a door opened and red beady eyes hissed at her."

"Beady eyes hiss?" Rybaiski rolled his eyes at how ridiculous it sounded. "That ranks right up there with Commander Sato's sex noises."

"What?"

Stu stumbled over his words in an attempt to explain why he was checking it out and not an engineering tech. "Just odd-ball noises filtering through the vent." He waved his hand around nervously. "She called me because we live next to each other and she … ah…. wanted to see if we could hear it in our room… geez… you know what? I'm needed on the bridge," he stammered giving himself an out.

-00-

Hoshi Sato stared at the floor number indicator as the turbolift descended through the ship. She had given on up sleep and opted for a run to clear her head. The door of the lift opened onto the infamous deck eleven.

The floor was the official workout deck of the ship. It was lined on one side by huge storage rooms, modified into a racquetball, volleyball, and basketball courts and a weight room. The other corridor housed the smallest of crew quarters, with centralized men's and women's heads. The rooms were available for over-flow passengers and since crew housing stopped at deck eight, eleven became the best place to house the gym.

The bowels of the ship, however, had a reputation for the mysterious. The maze of rooms and corridors was spiced with the odd odors from Waste Reclamation. The musty smell reminded most of a wet, creepy basement. The tales of ghostly creatures ruling the deck was started by the Captain's daughter as an excuse to get out of her physical therapy and the stories spread like wildfire. The ghosts were known to chase unsuspecting runners, scare people in the shower by manipulating the lights, terrorize with their beady red eyes and open doors at a whim to assert their dominance over the space.

Hoshi didn't feed into it. Fourth in command, just under Rybaiski, and the captain's right-hand-man, she had no time to be caught up in frivolous notions of ghosts and hauntings. She was determined to be a good example for the crew by fearlessly running the deck. Alone, at any hour of the day or night. After stretching her calves and loosening her muscles, she popped her ear buds in and took one last drink of water.

"At least I'll be in shape on this mission."

It took a few laps to get into her groove. The upbeat music piped into her ear buds kept her on pace and motivated. It wasn't long before Hoshi was in a zone, tuning out the emptiness of the floor and forgetting the sounds that had interrupted her sleep.

Forty minutes later, she was walking through her cool down laps. She felt completely refreshed and energized. Pulling her ear buds out, she stepped into the locker room to grab a towel and wipe the sweat from her neck. The emptiness of the room amplified each footfall. Her breathing was heavy in her ear. Her heart thudded in her chest.

A toilet flushed two stalls away from her.

"Wha?" She stopped dead in her tracks. "Did I just …. Is someone down here?"

Hoshi listened carefully for any noise other than her own. She walked slowly past each stall and peaked under the doors, only to find them all empty. Instinct pressed her body against the bulkhead as she carefully backpedalled toward the nearest comm. panel. The lack of sound deafened her senses. She felt her whole body begin to shake as she keyed in the code for the security office.

"Security."'

She jumped at the voice, even though she was expecting it. "This is Commander Sato. Can you do a quick scan of deck eleven and tell me if there's anyone down here besides me?"

"Stand by, Commander," the faceless voice said. "No, ma'm. The only bio-sign we're registering is yours."

"Thank you." Hoshi breathed a sigh a relief and nervously laughed at her mini freak out. She walked to the sink and activated the faucet. Cupping her hands under the water, she splashed the icy wetness on her face and the back of her neck, trying to cool off and calm down. She was almost back to normal, when the door to the locker room slid open and closed for no reason.

-00-

Commander Rybaiski paced the corridor and glared at his nemesis at the end of the hall. He had made her wait by the turbolift while Sergeant Brown and his team swept the floor. _At least she didn't call an intruder alert, _he tried to reason at her over-reaction.

Rybaiski was in Engineering when Hoshi had paged him on the ship-wide terror-filled voice hit his every nerve like fingernails scraping across an old-fashioned chalkboard. Without hesitation, he had ordered Brown and his team to deck eleven and then sprinted to the nearest lift to find out what was wrong. The anticipation squeezed his gut into a knot during the ride to the bottom of the ship. Now that same knot was red hot with anger instead.

"She's fricken losing it," he whispered under his breath. He was none too pleased to find out she had called him down here for this. _First the noises in the vent and now scary monsters in the hall_. "Lions and tigers and bears," he mumbled to nobody as he noticed Sergeant Brown walking his way. Brown looked at haggard as Rybaiski felt. Clearly he was not amused with Commander Sato's late night antics either.

"Sergeant, report." Rybaiski said when he was within earshot of the man.

"All rooms clear, Commander," Brown said. "No intruders or heat signatures."

"No shadow people?"

"No, sir."

"No beady eyed monsters?"

Brown started to chuckle. "Nope, didn't see any of them either. In fact, I'd say by the layers of dust, no one's been in any of those rooms for weeks."

Rybaiski nodded and turned to look back in Sato's direction. He couldn't tell by her body language if she was nervous, concerned or just wanted to kill him. "What about the toilet and the door?" He looked back at Brown and noticed the young sergeant was looking at Hoshi with the same contempt that he had been.

"If I had to make a guess, I'd say the auto flush mechanism just has a short in it. Probably the same thing for the door. "

"Ah huh," Rybaiski grunted. He agreed with the assessment. Hell, he would have agreed with the assessment when Hoshi had called him in Engineering, This whole thing could have been avoided if she would have just explained the situation instead of screaming for help at the top of her lungs.

"Permission to speak freely?" Brown looked at the commander for confirmation before continuing. "When was the last time she slept, sir?" Brown asked.

"I'm not sure." Rybaiski shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "What are you thinking?"

"It's my experience when someone is overly tired they have a tendency to see things differently." He paused to let the words sink in and then inclined his head toward Sato. "Sir, she needs to take a nap, she's got bags under her eyes," Brown said. "If you think that's going to be a problem, I could lock her in the brig."

"Huh, I wish it could be solved that easy. She'd probably think the bars were trying to strangle her." Both Rybaiski and Brown laughed about that and then Rybaiski slipped back into commander mode. "I got this. Thanks for reassuring her, Sergeant."

Rybaiski watched the sergeant collect his team and step into the aft turbolift. He stared at the dull bulkhead for some inspiration on how he was going to handle the "situation". Stu sucked in some air and walked to meet Hoshi at the end of the corridor.

"So?" Hoshi asked before he even was even close.

"There's nothing down here," Stu said flatly. He walked several more feet to close the gap. "No boogey man or phantom toilet flushers."

Hoshi exhaled heavily in annoyance. "There you go again … thinking everything is a big joke."

"Ah, nah, nah, nah, nah! See you think you know me, but you don't." Rybaiski waved his finger right in her face. "I, however, know you. I don't take kindly to people crying wolf especially when I find out security had already scanned the deck _and_ informed you that no one else was down here."

"So what? You think I just made it up? The toilet flushed and the doors opened and closed on their own, Stu. I heard it. I watched it."

"I don't think you made it up, Hoshi. I just think you over reacted. The toilets on this deck are like all the toilets on the ship. They're auto flush and sometimes they just do it for no reason! As for the doors, weren't you locked in the science lab a few months ago because the door was on the fritz?"

"Oh come on! That's not what happened."

"Yes it is. That's exactly what happened. You're blowing this whole thing out of proportion just like the noise in your room." He stared her in the eye and saw exactly was Sergeant Brown has viewed from a distance. Fatigue. _W__hen was the last time she slept? _He searched her eyes for an answer, but besides the anger and confusion, her dark eyes were hollow and sad. "Come on, we're going to medical," he said. He nudged her toward the turbolift.

Hoshi pulled her arm from his hand. "Medical? I'm not sick."

"I didn't say you were sick. You're starting to act like a nut job from your lack of sleep. That's called exhaustion, Hoshi. So before everyone on the ship starts talking about you, let's have the doctor prescribe something for it." He nudged her again to start walking.

"I don't need any drugs to make me feel better, Stu," she said defiantly.

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, but I wasn't asking," he said. He walked to the lift and pushed the recall button.

"You're going to pull rank on me?" Hoshi nearly laughed in his face.

_Oh yeah, she's delirious, _he surmised just as the door opened. "In case you've forgotten, as the XO, I'm responsible for the well being of all ship's personnel. Yourself included. The security chief made an observation to me and upon further investigation, I concur. So yes, Commander, I'm pulling rank on you. I don't care if you feel better in the morning or not, but I do care if you get some sleep. So get in the turbolift," Rybaiski pointed into the car. "That's an order."

-00-

"Commander, got a second?"

The voice of Sergeant Will Brown pulled Commander Stu Rybaiski from his reverie. He looked up from his desk and focused on the buzz cut leaning against the door of his office.

"Yeah, sure, come in." Stu motioned to the chair opposite the desk. "Didn't I tell you to get some sleep?"

"Eight hours ago," Brown said.

"Sheez," Rybaiski said, trying to stifle a yawn. "Sleep is something I haven't had yet."

"Well, this should perk you up. Waste reclamation found a dead animal in with this morning's junk." Brown handed the commander a data PADD containing the report.

"Well that ranks right up there with the six reports to engineering last night about the noise in the vents," Rybaiski said.

"There were other reports about vent noise?"

"Yes, but they followed protocol and reported it to engineering directly," Rybaiski said, emphasizing Sato's lapse in proper procedure.

"Huh," Brown grunted.

"What about this animal? Any escapees from the lab?"

"No, but I took it up there for identification." Brown settled down in the chair opposite of Rybaiski. "It's feline."

Rybaiski tilted his head in thought. "There aren't any cats on the ship."

"Are you sure? One of my guys noted marks on the dresser in one of the rooms. Said it looked like paw prints," Will said.

"You didn't say that last night."

"I didn't know it last night. I just read it in the reports this morning." Brown paused a moment and looked at Rybaiski. "So, any unauthorized cats?"

"You're asking me? I handle personnel, not contraband." Rybaiski smirked at the easy conversation between them.

"Speaking of which, what did you do about the personnel situation from last night?"

Rybaiski chuckled and sat back in his chair. "You were spot on with your assessment. I had the doc sedate her. Last I knew, she was sound asleep in sick bay."

"Nice," Brown said. Both men were quiet for a second. "Don't cat's eyes turn red when light shines on them?"

"I think so." He watched Brown nod his head.

"You know, the same guy that saw the paw prints reported that the vent directly above the toilet was open."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Rybaiski said sitting forward in his chair.

"The cat was in the ductwork and fell through the vent?" Brown half asked half stated. "Then Hoshi should have heard the splash."

"Not necessarily," Rybaiski said. "There's about a four second delay on the flush."

"Okay," Brown nodded. "She hears the flush, checks the stalls and finds nothing. Security doesn't have anything on the sweep, because by then, she was the only living thing down there. What about the dah-"

"Ah, short in the wires, just as you said," Rybaiski interrupted. "Engineering checked it out this morning. In fact, they found three other doors that were malfunctioning. Good thing we checked, I'd hate to have someone get locked in down there with the spookies."

"Alleged spookies." Sergeant Brown tipped back in his chair. "Six days into the cruise and we solve the deck eleven mystery. That just leaves the galley thefts."

"There was another theft?"

"They reported a whole chicken disappeared after Commander Sato's incident."

Stu was quiet for a moment. "Cooked or raw?"

-00-

The warm water pounded the muscles of her back, massaging away the tension and the stress. She'd never admit it, but Stu was right, again. She _was _exhausted and acting a bit delusional last night. _Or was that this morning? _Hoshi leaned back and turned the faucet to the off position. _I needed the sleep. _She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself up in a towel. The medically induced nap had brought some clarity to her thoughts.

Hoshi wiped the fog off the mirror and stared at her hazy reflection. "But I didn't need for him to order me to go. He thinks I over-reacted? Let's talk about over-reacting." Hoshi patted her body dry with the towel. "Another fine example of how Stu Rybaiski doesn't know how to lead."

Hoshi shed the towel and opted for the comfort of her teddy bear pajama pants and tank top. Medical had released her to quarters about thirty minutes ago. Not due back on duty for twenty-four hours, Hoshi was resigned to stay in her room. Alone. With the noises. She tilted her head and listened to the silence for a second. There was nothing but air moving through the vent. _Maybe I should transfer to third shift. _The doorbell rang a few minutes later and she walked over to answer it, expecting a steward from the galley. _Nah, then I'd have to deal with dickhead every minute of every hour, so he could pull rank on me, _she thought just as the door slid open_. _

"Commander?"

The sight of Stu Rybaiski at her door was a little startling. He seemed nervous, even though his demeanor said business.

"Hoshi, can I come in?"

She backed up to allow him entrance. _Like I have a choice. _"I'm feeling better," she said. "If you're wondering."

"I was, but that's not why I'm here," he said. "I ah, wanted to apologize."

"You apologize? That's a first." Hoshi laughed in his face. "That wife of yours must be wearing off on you."

"Yeah, she is," Rybaiski said shortly. "But, ummm, you were right. There was someone… or something thing I should say, down on deck eleven."

Hoshi tilted her head in confusion. "I don't understand."

"The scanners weren't calibrated for them," Rybaiski said. He stuck his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a ball of white fuzz.

Hoshi stared at it for a second before she realized what it was. "A kt…where did? How?"

"Well, best we can gather is that momma cat came on board with the cargo last month and somehow got into the ductwork." Rybaiski said.

"The noises in the vent?"

"Yes, the kittens. Waste reclamation found one in the pipe this morning. That's what made the toilet flush when you were on eleven last night." He handed the kitten to her. "Sergeant Brown and I recalibrated the sensors and then tracked down the rest of the litter. Momma and this little one's two brothers are up in the lab. The techs say they're about four weeks old." He watched Hoshi's eyes light up as she snuggled the fluffy kitten against her face. "The cap'n's not too happy, so I told him that I knew just the person to take care of them, until we arrive at Starbase One. Our ETA is 72 hours. "

Hoshi giggled as the kitten rubbed his nose against her face and touched his tiny paw on her cheek. She inhaled his kitty aroma and looked up at Rybaiski standing sheepishly in the corner. "So you don't think I'm crazy?"

"I didn't say that," Rybaiski said. He winked at her and backed toward the door.

"You're apology is accepted," Hoshi conceded for the moment. "For now."

**The End**


End file.
